Rob Conner's Blog - Internet Technology & Web Engineering

Rendering and not rendering

July 28, 2007

One of the most common questions I see on IRC is "How do I stop the view from displaying?". The controller has a handy little attribute autoRender, setting it to false will stop the view from being displayed. Also using the render(...) method automatically sets autoRender to false. This is handy if you want to another view aside from the default one for an action. Some example code: <div class="code"><pre><?php // in a controllers action $this->autoRender = false; header('Content-type: application/pdf'); readfile('/path/tp/pdf_file'); // or say you want to render an element as a view. // maybe you are using ajax if($this->RequestHandler->isAjax()) { // is a cake component $this->viewPath = 'elements'.DS.'products'; $this->render('product_table', 'ajax'); } ?> </pre></div> <div style='display:none'><?php // in a controllers action $this->autoRender = false; header('Content-type: application/pdf'); readfile('/path/tp/pdf_file'); // or say you want to render an element as a view. // maybe you are using ajax if($this->RequestHandler->isAjax()) { // is a cake component $this->viewPath = 'elements'.DS.'products'; $this->render('product_table', 'ajax'); } ?></div> Some links: <a href="http://api.cakephp.org/1.2/class_controller.html#90046e6b62c91452a987c9573372c2ac">Controller::render</a> [api.cakephp.org] <a href="http://api.cakephp.org/1.2/class_request_handler_component.html">RequestHandler</a> [api.cakephp.org] -rtconner

0 Comments >> Tags: CakePHP, PHP

Static Data Helper

July 27, 2007

Static Data in my Database? Why would I want to store data in the database that never changes? First, with proper usage you can minimize the load on your database server by permanently caching the results of the queries. Secondly, it becomes easy to JOIN to when you do need it. You never should need it though. Third, it becomes very easy for you as a developer to get data from a single row or get a full list of data with which you can create a <SELECT> dropdown. Fourth, It becomes exceedingling easy to say add a 51st state to your website. Just add a row to the table, and delete the cache. Perhaps adding an Order status at the request of a customer is a more common thing. A very simple to understand example of this is states. All you need to do is store all states in your database, and say you want to store where each user in your system lives. In the Users table create a state_id field. After you have installed the Helper, you can simply call <?= $static->status($User, 'name'); ?> to get the name of the state. This will not query your database, and will add zero extra load onto your database server. And notice how easy it was for you to write in code. Some real life usage examples <div class="code"><pre> <?php echo $form->input('country_id', array('options' => $static->countries('id', 'name'))); ?>  <?php echo $static->status(40, 'desc'); ?>  <?= $form->select('user/state_id', $static->states('id', 'abbrev'), $user['User']['state_id']); ?> </pre></div> <div style='display:none'> <?php echo $form->input('country_id', array('options' => $static->countries('id', 'name'))); ?>  <?php echo $static->status(40, 'desc'); ?>  <?= $form->select('user/state_id', $static->states('id', 'abbrev'), $user['User']['state_id']); ?> </div> Sorry, you have to get the data to put into your database on your own. This Helper will cache the data from that data for 1 year, making it so the data is almost never selected from your database. Installation1. Take the code below and put it into the file app/views/helpers/static.php 2. Config the file if you want (I suggest changing the $tmp_folder var) 3. In your controller add var $helpers = array('Static'); The Code (intended to go in a helper named static.php) <div class="code"><pre><?php /** * CakePHP Helper to handle use of data in database that never changes * * array plural($order, $field='name'); // ready for use in FormHelper::select * string singular($id, $field='name'); * * usage examples (in Views): * * $static->states('abbrev'); // all states sorted by abbrev * $static->statuses('id', 'name'); // get list of all status names, sorted by id * $static->status(40, 'desc'); // description of status with id 40 * $status->countries(); // get all countries sorted by id * * @author Rob Conner aka rtconner */ class StaticHelper extends Helper { // set this to a folder within your app/tmp folder to store the data (no trailing slash) var $tmp_folder = 'cache'; var $cache_expires = '+1 Year'; var $database = 'default'; //plural only please, will enable both plural and singular methods (status needs to be added to inflections.php) var $methods = array('states', 'countries', 'statuses'); function __call($method, $args) { $plural = Inflector::pluralize($method); if(in_array($plural, $this->methods)) { array_unshift($args, $method); if($plural==$method) // return list of all static items return call_user_func_array(array(&$this, 'all'), $args); else // return single item return call_user_func_array(array(&$this, 'row'), $args); } else // try to imitate php's errors trigger_error(sprintf('Call to undefined function: %s::%s().', get_class($this), $method), E_USER_ERROR); } /** * @param string $table to get list from * @param string $order sort order of list * @param string $field field data to return * @return array */ function all($table, $order='id', $field='name') { $cache_name = $this->tmp_folder.DS.$table.'_'.$order.'_'.$field; $cache_data = cache($cache_name, null, $this->cache_expires, 'tmp'); if (empty($cache_data)) { $db =& ConnectionManager::getDataSource($this->database); $table = Inflector::tableize($table); $qs = 'SELECT * FROM `'.$table.'` ORDER BY `'.$order.'`;'; $results = $db->fetchAll($qs, false, 'States'); $list = array(); foreach($results as $r) $list[$r[$table]['id']] = $r[$table][$field]; $cache_data = cache($cache_name, serialize($list), $this->cache_expires, 'tmp'); } return @unserialize($cache_data); } /** * @param string $table to get row from * @param string $field name to return (ex: name, abbrev, etc) * @param int $id primary id or item in row * @return string $value */ function row($table, $id, $field='name') { $all = $this->all($table, $field); return array_key_exists($id, $all) ? $all[$id] : null; } } </pre></div> <div style='display:none'><?php /** * CakePHP Helper to handle use of data in database that never changes * * array plural($order, $field='name'); // ready for use in FormHelper::select * string singular($id, $field='name'); * * usage examples (in Views): * * $static->states('abbrev'); // all states sorted by abbrev * $static->statuses('id', 'name'); // get list of all status names, sorted by id * $static->status(40, 'desc'); // description of status with id 40 * $status->countries(); // get all countries sorted by id * * @author Rob Conner aka rtconner */ class StaticHelper extends Helper { // set this to a folder within your app/tmp folder to store the data (no trailing slash) var $tmp_folder = 'cache'; var $cache_expires = '+1 Year'; var $database = 'default'; //plural only please, will enable both plural and singular methods (status needs to be added to inflections.php) var $methods = array('states', 'countries', 'statuses'); function __call($method, $args) { $plural = Inflector::pluralize($method); if(in_array($plural, $this->methods)) { array_unshift($args, $method); if($plural==$method) // return list of all static items return call_user_func_array(array(&$this, 'all'), $args); else // return single item return call_user_func_array(array(&$this, 'row'), $args); } else // try to imitate php's errors trigger_error(sprintf('Call to undefined function: %s::%s().', get_class($this), $method), E_USER_ERROR); } /** * @param string $table to get list from * @param string $order sort order of list * @param string $field field data to return * @return array */ function all($table, $order='id', $field='name') { $cache_name = $this->tmp_folder.DS.$table.'_'.$order.'_'.$field; $cache_data = cache($cache_name, null, $this->cache_expires, 'tmp'); if (empty($cache_data)) { $db =& ConnectionManager::getDataSource($this->database); $table = Inflector::tableize($table); $qs = 'SELECT * FROM `'.$table.'` ORDER BY `'.$order.'`;'; $results = $db->fetchAll($qs, false, 'States'); $list = array(); foreach($results as $r) $list[$r[$table]['id']] = $r[$table][$field]; $cache_data = cache($cache_name, serialize($list), $this->cache_expires, 'tmp'); } return @unserialize($cache_data); } /** * @param string $table to get row from * @param string $field name to return (ex: name, abbrev, etc) * @param int $id primary id or item in row * @return string $value */ function row($table, $id, $field='name') { $all = $this->all($table, $field); return array_key_exists($id, $all) ? $all[$id] : null; } } </div>

0 Comments >> Tags: CakePHP, PHP

Welcome to my CakePHP Blog

July 26, 2007

Hello folks. Welcome to the <a href="http://cakephp.org">CakePHP</a> [cakephp.org] portion of my Blog. I intend to use this as a space to share tips and hints and other such helpfulness that I can offer for you CakePHP users (or should I say bakers). I've been coding in Cake for a while now. I've had to go through some tough times with that blasted framework. I've loved it, I've hated, but we always seem to make peace at the end. Since I've been through so much I've been forced to learn a lot about CakePHP. I won't say I've mastered it, as I still learn new things all of the time. But through thick and thin, for the most part I've learned best practices and how to get it to what I want. As with everything I've found ways to make Cake work better for me. Hopefully some of what I've learned can also benefit you. If it means anything I really only using Cake 1.2. Sorry to those of you still on 1.1 but for the most part I will not be able to offer large amounts of help to you. Some tips I will post will be helpful. I'll try to document what versions of CakePHP any given concept or bit of code will work with. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Baking -Rob Conner (aka rtconner)

14 Comments >> Tags: CakePHP, PHP

Internet Technology & Web Engineering Blog

by Robert Conner

Categories:

Rendering and not rendering

Static Data Helper

Welcome to my CakePHP Blog